Cliff Force Cave

Also within

North Yorkshire County YORKSHIRE DALES National Park

Condition (Natural England)

Climate exposure

This is about exposure to a nationwide pressure this habitat type carries — not a verdict on this site's own management.

Habitats

Fast flowing river and stream

Geology & landscape

Geological Feature: Cave / Cavern · Rock Type: Limestone

Landscape processes: Coastal, Glacial, Karst

Description

Description The site is situated above five kilometres north of Hawes and covers part of the valley of Cliff Beck and Muker Common. Cliff Force Cave consists of approximately two kilometres of passages developed in the Namurian Main Limestone. The limestone has a northerly dip and crops out close to the floor of the valley of Cliff Beck which lies within the River Swale catchment. This limestone also crops out on the southern side of Abbotside Common within the catchment of the River Ure. Sinks at Sargill on Abbotside Common enter the Main Limestone. The water entering the sinks resurges at Cliff Force Cave. The Main Limestone acts as a conduit for the transfer of water from the Ure to the Swale catchment beneath the watershed. Cliff Force Cave consists of three levels which are all primarily phreatic. These three levels are thought to represent successive stages of a phreatic flow which shifted to lower inception levels as the aquifer matured. A final stage of vadose incision occurred which appears to be directly related to the lowering of the resurgence. Although each of these stages may reflect the rejuvenation of the valley floor through glacial excavation, the effect of geological structure within such a thin limestone may also have had a great influence on the position of resurgence. The Buttertubs represent a classic example of invasion vadose shafts developed close to a steep valley side. Horizontal caves only developed at the base of the limestone where the underlying shales blocked further vertical groundwater movement. Cliff Force Cave is nationally important as the prime example of a cave developed in a thin bed limestone by drainage passing beneath a major surface watershed. Geological controls, both structural and lithological, have influenced the configuration and morphology of the cave, producing a cave system on multiple phreatic levels, which is unusual in the thinner limestones of the northern Pennines. Further studies of this site are important in order to distinguish between the effects of geological structure and glacial excavation of Swaledale. Such distinctions will enhance knowledge of the glacial history of this part of northern England. The Buttertubs demonstrate vadose shafts and are the product of an entirely vadose development within this limestone, with simple vertical shafts descending to the underlying aquiclude and draining rapidly into the adjacent valley.

Plant communities